#9 – We Chose Staff over a building When we started our church, one of the things I had already made a decision about was that we were going to wait at least 3 years before pursuing any kind of building. The reason? I waned to develop and train a staff that could lead and adequately meet the needs of our church. I still believe this has been the right decision for us. We have always tried to staff slightly ahead of the growth and the addition of a staff member has always brought more growth. Now we are feeling … Read More

#8 – They didn’t talk to 10 people – they talked to 1 person 10 times! One thing we haven’t fallen for, is the thing that people say which all Pastors hear from time to time. It’s the old, “Pastor, I’ve talked to several people about this and they think we should __________.” At that moment, EVERY TIME, I say, “Who did you talk to? Let’s get them together so I can understand what’s going on.” Sure enough, I find that it isn’t 10 people they talked to. They just talked to 1 person 10 times. Pastors, don’t fall for … Read More

#8 – We tried to do too much too soon This is the classic trap of any church plant. I’ve seen a hundred times and experienced it myself. What’s funny is that this is the 1 thing I said I wouldn’t do and I still got sucked into its’ gravitational pull. There is a thrill in starting new things. It’s one of the reasons we planted a church instead of taking over an established church. In the excitement of it all, we want to keep that fire burning and we start things that are good, but later on end up … Read More

#7 – I did not have a clearly defined vision before we started the church I know this sounds insane, but it’s totally true. If you were to have asked me how Calvary Fellowship was going to reach people 2 months before we started, I would have said something spiritual sounding like, “I am going to teach the Bible” or “I am going to let the Spirit lead.” That’s not spiritual, that’s called ignorance and lack of preparation. What this lack of vision did was cause me a lot of headaches. Why? Because when you don’t have the course laid … Read More

#7 – I let my wife be herself My wife never felt comfortable in the typical role of a pastor’s wife. While my wife is a gifted teacher, she has never felt the urge or the call to run a Women’s ministry. She doesn’t lead worship or play the organ, yet since we started Calvary there has been pressure by some to force her into that cookie cutter mold. My heart for her has always been that she be herself and that she find the ministry that God has for her. For some reason, people have this idea that the … Read More

#6 – Our resources have always reflected our priorities Since we started, we’ve said that 3 areas would always have top priority:  Teaching, worship, & children’s ministry.  Five years later, those are the areas that we give most to in our budget & personnel resources.  Each of these areas has a full-time staff member, and these are the areas that we seek to lead new volunteers to serving in.  The reason: it’s the place where the greatest impact can be made.  A new couple walking into our church won’t stay if the teaching & worship are amazing but the children’s … Read More

#6 – I didn’t realize the importance of Sunday morning When we started Calvary Fellowship I never realized the importance of Sunday morning.  I thought that it was important, but I didn’t have the view of it that I do now.  Sunday morning is where you steer the ship.  It’s where the whole church gets together to hear from God and invite their friends to do the same.  It’s the only time you have the entire church’s undivided attention.  Other things are important (small groups, couples’, special events) but nothing is as important as Sunday morning.  Sunday isn’t just another … Read More

#5 – We’ve tried to do everything with excellence I wish I could say that we have succeeded 100% in this, but we’ve come pretty close.  When we start Calvary Fellowship, we said that if we couldn’t do something with excellence, we wouldn’t do it at all.  For us, the idea of crooked bulletins, out of tune singers, and half baked messages was a no-no from day one.  We’ve always said that "Good enough" is not part of our vocabulary.  So we tried to do things that looked like we were a church 5 times the size we were.  Too … Read More

#5 – I didn’t take enough time off I took 2 days off in the first 6 months of our church plant: Christmas day and New Year’s day.  The only reason I did was because everything was closed.  While I had outide employment until the 7th month of our church, every moment I wasn’t "bringing home the bacon" was spent doing church related things.  I kept that pace for about 3 years until I hit a wall.  I wasn’t sure if I could continue in ministry because I was so tired and fried.  At that moment I realized a change … Read More

#4 – We made training a priority One of the things we have done well is make training a priority on our staff.  I buy books for our staff to read and even give office time to read them. We discuss what we are reading and talk about the ideas they give us. I do a training session with our staff every month discussingdifferent areas of ministry. We also go to conferences that we feel will help us be more effective.  Before I went into ministry, I had a boss that was serious about traning.  We asked him about it … Read More